Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating a national register of student accommodation.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Student accommodation is a busy part of the housing market. As universities and landlords are private, autonomous bodies, the government has no role in the provision of student accommodation, nor a remit to intervene in how it is allocated.
The department has no plans to create a register of student accommodation. Applicants who require student accommodation should take its availability into account when making decisions about where to study. The department expects universities and private landlords to review their accommodation policies to ensure they are fair, clear, and promote the interests of students.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to increase the number of adoption registered therapists providing counselling to adults who were adopted as children.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department recognises the importance of the availability of counselling and therapeutic support to adults who were adopted as children. We agree that adult adoptees should be able to access the support that they need, particularly around their mental health needs.
The department has recently consulted on amendments to regulations to simplify arrangements for providers who provide support to adopted adults. One of the proposed changes in the consultation is to remove the requirement that therapists be registered with Ofsted when providing counselling services to adopted adults. One of the aims of this is to increase the availability of counselling for adult adoptees. We are currently analysing the responses.
The government is also improving NHS mental support availability. The NHS Long Term Plan and mental health expansion plans will increase funding for mental health services.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will take steps to provide funding for computer programming courses in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Andrea Jenkyns
There are a range of just over 200 digital qualifications which are nationally available for funding both those 16 to 19 and adults, and this will include availability in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
These qualifications will be at a range of levels and will include broader qualifications covering a range of IT, digital and computing skills, as well as level 2 and level 3 qualifications in computing which will have a greater focus on aspects of programming.
Three T Levels in Digital are now available in a number of providers across the country, Digital Business Services, Digital Production, Design and Development, and Digital Support Services. They offer a prestigious, high-quality technical option at level 3, supporting progression to occupations such as software development technician. Colleges in Newcastle and its surrounding areas are now offering T Levels in the digital route.
Through the Level 3 Free Courses for Jobs offer, we have made more than 400 level 3 courses free for adults learning below the national living wage and those that haven’t previously obtained a level 3 qualification. Courses are available in a range of digital skills, including: cyber security, coding, network architecture, and systems support. We are also expanding Skills Bootcamps, which are free, flexible courses in job specific skills, including in digital areas such as software development, coding and data analytics. A large number of digital Skills Bootcamps are being delivered online and are available to learners across the country, however there are courses being delivered in person, which are available at Gateshead College, Tyne Coast College and Northumbria University.
Newcastle Upon Tyne is a devolved area for the purposes of the Adult Education Budget (AEB), which means that it is responsible for the provision of adult education and allocation of the AEB in the area including determining what adult provision to fund to meet learner and employer demand.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to take steps to increase school budgets in response to rising energy costs.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department recognises that schools will be facing cost pressures in the coming months, particularly due to the increase in energy prices. We are looking carefully at how this will impact schools and are considering what additional support we could offer.
Cost increases should be seen in the wider context of funding for schools. The government is delivering a £4 billion cash increase in the core schools budget next year, taking total funding to £53.8 billion. This includes an additional £1.2 billion for schools in the new schools supplementary grant for the 2022/23 financial year. Overall, this represents a 7% cash terms per pupil boost, which will help schools meet the pressures we know they are facing, particularly around energy costs. The department pays close attention to financial health of the sector, and we are closely assessing where energy costs may more significantly impact schools’ financial health.
All schools can access a range of school resource management (SRM) tools to help them get the best value from their resources, to help them save on regular purchases and reduce non-teaching costs. Our SRM tools include recommended deals for energy costs and ancillary services relating to energy. The department will also update and strengthen guidance on a regular basis to inform schools of the market and commercial position, with practical advice on exiting existing and entering new contracts, available here: https://www.get-help-buying-for-schools.service.gov.uk/procurement-support. The Get Help Buying for Schools service will also be able to offer support to schools in switching and entering new contracts.
The department recognises that every school’s circumstances are different, and where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has updated guidance provided to schools on schools-based counselling to reflect the context of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not collect regular information on the provision of counselling in schools and colleges in England, including the Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency.
Our most recent survey of mental health provision in schools and colleges, published in 2017, found that 61% of schools and colleges (56% of primary schools, 84% of secondary schools and 93% of colleges) reported offering access to counselling services for their pupils and students. The full survey can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634726/Supporting_Mental-Health_survey_report.pdf. Recently, findings from the department’s COVID-19 School Snapshot Survey in July 2021, found that 96% of schools were providing support in school for pupils identified as having mental health needs.
We recognise that school and college-based counselling is a valuable provision which can play a particularly effective role as part of a whole-school or college approach to wellbeing and mental health, within which support can come from a number of sources. Our guidance on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling further supports schools who have decided that counselling support is appropriate for their pupils. The guidance outlines a strong expectation that over time, all schools will offer counselling services alongside other interventions. The current guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.
As a result of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have committed to publishing updated guidance in the 2022/23 academic year, to make sure it reflects the current context.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools offered counselling services in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency, (b) the North East and (c) England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does not collect regular information on the provision of counselling in schools and colleges in England, including the Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency.
Our most recent survey of mental health provision in schools and colleges, published in 2017, found that 61% of schools and colleges (56% of primary schools, 84% of secondary schools and 93% of colleges) reported offering access to counselling services for their pupils and students. The full survey can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634726/Supporting_Mental-Health_survey_report.pdf. Recently, findings from the department’s COVID-19 School Snapshot Survey in July 2021, found that 96% of schools were providing support in school for pupils identified as having mental health needs.
We recognise that school and college-based counselling is a valuable provision which can play a particularly effective role as part of a whole-school or college approach to wellbeing and mental health, within which support can come from a number of sources. Our guidance on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling further supports schools who have decided that counselling support is appropriate for their pupils. The guidance outlines a strong expectation that over time, all schools will offer counselling services alongside other interventions. The current guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools.
As a result of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have committed to publishing updated guidance in the 2022/23 academic year, to make sure it reflects the current context.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department collects on the number of schools that directly employ their own mental health counsellors.
Answered by Will Quince
The department does collect information on staff working in state-funded schools via the annual School Workforce Census, but this does not directly identify in-school mental health counsellors and mental health workers. The results are published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Our most recent survey of mental health provision in schools and colleges published in 2017 found that 61% of schools and colleges (56% of primary schools, 84% of secondary schools and 93% of colleges) reported offering access to counselling services for their pupils and students: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634726/Supporting_Mental-Health_survey_report.pdf. Recently, findings from the department’s COVID-19 School Snapshot Survey in July 2021, found that 96% of schools were providing support in school for pupils identified as having mental health needs.
We recognise that school and college-based counselling is valuable provision which can play a particularly effective role as part of a whole-school or college approach to wellbeing and mental health, within which support can come from a number of sources. We have produced guidance on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling, to further support schools who have decided that counselling support is appropriate for their pupils. As a result of the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have committed to updating this guidance to make sure it reflects the current context. The current guidance sets out our strong expectation that over time, all schools will offer counselling services, alongside other interventions.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department is on track to provide senior mental health lead training to all state schools and colleges by 2025.
Answered by Will Quince
The government is making good progress on its commitment to offer senior mental health lead training to all state-funded schools and colleges in England by 2025. The department has invested over £9.5 million in financial year 2021-22 to fund senior mental health lead training grants for over 8,000 eligible schools and colleges. As of 14 January, over 3,500 senior leads are estimated to have begun their training. Our position on issuing grants for financial year 2022-23 will be confirmed later in the spring.